Today I Kept Out Of A Dangerous Construction Area In Fort Worth's Mallard Cove Park

Today I decided to be a rebel and not roll my wheels at their regular Saturday location in Fort Worth's Gateway Park, followed by a bout of Town Talk treasure hunting.

Instead I rolled my wheels in Fort Worth's Mallard Cove Park followed by what passes for treasure hunting in the nearby Super Walmart.

I am not a fan of seeing DANGER CONSTRUCTION KEEP OUT signs in parks I visit.

Actually I don't think I remember ever seeing such a DANGER sign before in a park I visit.

Why is there no explanation as to what is being constructed? And why it is dangerous?

Is Fort Worth building a picnic pavilion in its newest park?

Restroom facilities?

Likely no on the restroom facilities idea. Most Fort Worth parks lack modern amenities, like restrooms and running water.

Outhouses are usually available though, but not the cool high tech type ones you find on the Dallas Cowboy Stadium parking lots....

Maybe Fort Worth Should Look At Mount Vernon's Skagit River Vision

If my memory is serving me correctly on several occasions I have blogged about Fort Worth area "Master Plans" which are sort of lacking, with no project timelines for what are basically imaginary "Master Plans" mastering nothing.

Such as the Trinity River Vision and the Boondoggle's Gateway Park Master Plan.

I also am fairly certain a time or two I have opined about being appalled at the ridiculous propaganda spewed about Fort Worth's imaginary plans, and the disconnect between the propaganda and what is actually is being built.

Today I was checking out the state of my old hometown of Mount Vernon's Skagit River Vision. Soon I was looking at the Mount Vernon equivalent of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda, with a clear difference.

The Mount Vernon Skagit River Vision, with details of its Master Plan being grounded in reality, are funded and are being constructed.

Below is Mount Vernon Skagit River Vision propaganda verbiage I gleaned from a Mount Vernon website. Make note of all the things happening in Mount Vernon, population of around 30,000, compared to what's actually happening in Fort Worth, population closer to a million than 30,000. Things like an actual flood protection project, which is actually needed to fix an actual problem. And more...

“Downtown Mount Vernon is the vibrant heart of Skagit County. It is a place where people come to live, work, and play, enjoying the riverfront promenade, boutique shopping, fine dining, and entertainment of all sorts. Its public spaces are enlivened by a farmer’s market and live music. People come for its fairs, festivals, and riverfront setting. They come back for its small town character and the ease with which they can park their car and walk wherever they want to go. Downtown Mount Vernon is thriving because it is where people want to be.”

That is the vision for Downtown Mount Vernon and the City is well on its way to making it happen.

The Opportunity

The future is now!  The City of Mount Vernon has adopted a Master Plan for the Waterfront and Historic Downtown Area that provides guidelines for development over the next 20 years and presents an economic development opportunity in Downtown Mount Vernon.

The Downtown and Waterfront Master Plan is designed to build on and enhance existing retail activity along First Street, and create a vibrant, attractive, and safe waterfront and downtown, with enhanced public access to the shoreline and river, new and improved public amenities, and mixed-use redevelopment that will generate new jobs and create housing that preserves the character of downtown Mount Vernon.

Location.  Location.  Location

Mount Vernon is located along the I-5 corridor, 60 miles north of Seattle and 80 miles south of Vancouver British Columbia.  Mount Vernon is unique as it is one of the only cities west of the Mississippi and north of San Francisco that within a 100 mile radius can draw from an estimated 6 million people.

Mount Vernon’s historic downtown is bounded to the east by Interstate 5, to the west the Skagit River, to the north Lion’s Park and to the south by Section Street. Mount Vernon is minutes away from the beautiful San Juan Islands to the west and the North Cascade Mountain Range and Mt. Baker to the east.  Mount Vernon is the County seat and has a strong presence of government employees within the downtown core.  

The City’s regional transit center, built in 2004 is a gateway project located at the front door step to downtown Mount Vernon along I-5.  Skagit Multi-Modal Station offers rail, bus, commuter and taxi service to the region.

The Skagit River, which is the only river that can boast salmon runs for five different species of salmon naturally, runs through downtown Mount Vernon offering a spectacular scenic amenity within downtown.  Principle economic activities include government, healthcare, retail and tourism.

The Master Plan takes advantage of Downtown’s assets and will achieve the following goals:

Provide permanent certified flood protection for downtown to make investing in downtown Mount Vernon economically viable.

Develop a pedestrian-oriented downtown where people are encouraged to circulate on foot.

Encourage a mixture of land uses, including public open space, shoreline recreational, cultural, and institutional uses integrated with revenue producing uses that may include office, retail, restaurant, hotel, entertainment, and residential uses.

Accommodate an overall increase in residential density to provide a greater level of around-the-clock activity, support existing businesses, and improve the general economic vitality of downtown.

Provide sufficient and conveniently located parking without compromising the overall pedestrian-friendly environment.

Accommodate vehicular circulation while providing pedestrian-friendly streets.

Preserve and build upon the existing historic character of downtown.

Provide more open space and public amenities downtown.

Encourage multi-modal transportation by developing improved connections across the river, to regional trails, and to Skagit Station.

The City is undertaking a major flood protection project that will result in 100-year flood protection for downtown Mount Vernon.  In addition to the flood control measure, the City has designed and will construct a 25 foot wide, ½ mile long riverfront walk and public park along the Skagit River.

The flood protection measure is designed to protect the downtown area from flooding and remove the downtown from the FEMA 100-year flood plain designation. The flood protection measure is designed with removable sections that will be used only during flood events, therefore views and access to the river will not be encumbered.

__________________________________________________

Does the Mount Vernon Skagit River Vision remind you at all of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision?

No?

Me either.

Key difference is the fact that the Mount Vernon Skagit River Vision is well underway to being seen. While the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is currently building, maybe, Three Bridges Over Nothing, while, after over a decade of boondoggling, what has actually been created are things like an imaginary island with an imaginary pavilion, a brewery, drive-in movie theater, a wakeboard lake and happy hour inner tube floats where a polluted river gets rocked with beer.

The Mount Vernon Skagit River Vision addresses a real flood control issue.

Trust me, the Skagit River in flood mode is very real. I have seen what happens in downtown Mount Vernon when the Skagit River goes into rampaging flood mode. Twice I have helped sandbag a floodwall to save downtown Mount Vernon.

I have seen the Trinity River in flood mode several times since I have been in Texas. I have never seen those floods even remotely endanger downtown Fort Worth in the way I have seen the Skagit River threaten downtown Mount Vernon.

Hence one of the reasons I refer to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's flood diversion channel as being un-needed, because it is un-needed, wasting resources to build an un-needed thing, if it ever actually does get built, under those Three Bridges Over Nothing....

A Last Friday Before Fall Walking Tour Of The Industrial Wasteland I Call Home

As you can clearly see, cloudy is our sky motif for this last Friday before the First Day of Fall.

The cloudiness looks such that one would think some precipitation would be precipitating. However, nothing wet fell on me as I took one of my semi-regular walking tours of the Industrial Wasteland I call home.

In the picture we are looking southwest across the vast Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale gas fracking operation which takes up the northwest corner of the intersection of Boca Raton Boulevard and the 820 frontage road.

Across the middle of the picture, at the far left, sits Italy Pizza & Pasta, In the middle sits the Albertsons I frequently frequent and its collection of other stores in an antiquated 60s style strip mall in dire need of having its signage and landscaping upgraded.

The picture pretty much accurately captures what my neighborhood Industrial Wasteland actually looks like.

I suppose I could make a more flattering photo by taking a picture on a sunny day, near sunrise or sunset, with the scene bathed in a golden glow and my camera set to its sunset filter to enhance the special beauty of the moment.

But that would sort of seem like photographic propaganda to me.

Today Via Twitter Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price Favorited Me With A New Word

Today, when I returned from rolling my wheels in Fort Worth's Gateway Park, I checked my email to find a message from Twitter informing me that my favorite Fort Worth mayor, Betsy Price, had favorited me.

Well, actually what the message said was "Your Tweet got favorited!".

I don't think "favorited" is actually a word. Favorited is being red-flagged as a misspelling every time I type it.

About a half hour after learning that my favorite mayor had favorited me I mentioned to someone who shall remain Nameless that Betsy Price had favorited my latest blogging Tweet on Twitter.

Nameless acted all confused and perplexed as to what in the world Betsy Price could have favorited, since the latest blogging Nameless had read on my blog had to do with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Nameless said something like "Betsy Price favorited you making fun of the Trinity River Vision?"

To which I replied something like "Betsy Price seems to me to be a very intelligent person. Don't you think she is a bit embarrassed being the mayor of a town with such an embarrassing boondoggle building things like bridges over nothing, imaginary islands and non-existent pavilions?"

I do not remember if I ended up telling Nameless that the Tweet Betsy Price favorited had to do with Today Is North Texas Giving Day With Dorothy's Ruby Slippers On The Tandy Hills, which is not a controversial subject...

Sticky Trails With A Fallen Tree Led Me To The Gateway Park Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Master Plan Propaganda

I was in a bad mood this morning, an after effect of a raging political printer debate last night on Facebook which left me exhausted.

A long swim, early this morning, under the sliver of light provided by a skinny crescent moon did little to alleviate my bad mood.

So, I decided some fast wheel rolling on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails would be just what the Mood Doctor would prescribe if I had a Mood Doctor.

As I made the left turn into Gateway Park I began to see puddles of water. This did not bode well. While no rain fell on my location yesterday, it appeared that five miles to the west some precipitation precipitated.

As I drove to the bike unload zone I decided if the trails were muddy I would instead pedal the paved trails, trails which I have not pedaled in a long time, not since I discovered I enjoyed the Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

As you can clearly see above, I made it to my favorite Gateway Park photo op location. A scenic look at the Trinity River in its natural state, not needing tricky lighting and special filters to make the Trinity River look good which is what you usually need if you want to take an "enhanced" Trinity River photo in the downtown Fort Worth zone of the Trinity River.

The fact that I made it to my favorite Gateway Park photo op location would indicate the trails were not muddy, which they weren't. But rain had left the trails a bit sticky, thus impacting how freely the wheels roll.

I had already decided I was only going to go one time around the trails due to the sticky trails issue, when I came to the below obstruction.

Getting over the fallen tree was fairly easy, but doing so rendered me a wet sweaty mess. I was already in adrenaline over drive due to an encounter with a big cranky snake stretched across the trail. I slammed to a stop, did not reach quickly for my camera, figuring by the time I got the camera turned on the snake would have slithered off. I  figured wrong. The slithering took long enough that I likely could have taken a picture had I quickly reached for the camera. I think the snake may have been slithering slow due to the cool temperature, as in chilled to the low 80s.

Continuing on I came to one of Gateway Park's infamous boarded up boardwalks, where I saw signage had been added, signage with very tortured verbiage whose meaning my feeble grasp of English had trouble understanding.

ENTERING CLOSED AREAS; HOURS OF OPERATION, IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON TO ENTER ANY PORTION OF A PARK  OR RECREATION AREA WHICH IS DESIGNATED AS RESTRICTED.

So, is the Gateway Park boarded up boardwalk designated as restricted? Does the AREA CLOSED TO PUBLIC sign you see below designate the boarded up boarkwalk as being restricted? Why use such clunky verbiage on a sign?

An even better question than wondering about clunky verbiage on a sign is to wonder how many more years is this Gateway Park eyesore going to exist? Either fix the boarded up boardwalks or tear them down.

Or are we  waiting on the Gateway Park Master Plan to fix the boarded up boardwalks? Which leads us to the next sign.

The Trinity River Vision may be one of America's top all time Boondoggles, but one thing the TRVB does do well is produce long lasting signage spewing imaginative propaganda about imaginary plans.

Like the Gateway Park Master Plan signage. The forest of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda signs showed up years ago, near Fort Woof in Gateway Park touting the Gateway Park Master Plan. The propaganda on the sign above, under the title "The Gateway Park Master Plan" says...

"The revitalization of Gateway Park is a major component of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. The park's ecosystem will be restored to its natural beauty and over 80,000 native oak and pecan trees will be planted. Community-requested recreational amenities will be added throughout its 1,000 acres, making it one of the largest urban programmed parks in the nation. The master plan will spur economic development and connect the east and southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River Corridor."

80,000 trees to be planted. When? These are known as J.D. Granger's Magic Trees. I mentioned the Magic Trees in a blogging in early August and first mentioned the J.D. Granger Magic Trees in a blogging way back in 2011, which included video of J.D. Granger describing the Magic Trees.

Shouldn't a Master Plan have some sort of plan? You know, something like a project timeline?

When are we going to see any of the wonderful things we see on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's propaganda signage about the Gateway Park Master Plan?

More than once whilst reading Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda I have been baffled by the Boondoggle making a claim along the line that something has been requested by the community. In the Gateway Park Master Plan's instance the sign says "Community-requested recreational amenities will be added throughout its 1,000 acres."

I really would like to know how the Boondoggle manages to find out what the "community" is requesting. I'm part of the "community". No one asked me what amenities I'd like to request.

Since, apparently, the Trinity River Vision Boondoggles does what the "community" requests, on behalf of the "community" I would like to request a project timeline letting us in the "community" know when we well be able to start enjoying the amenities the "community" has requested?

It is a puzzling, perplexing mystery to me why more people are not puzzled and perplexed by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's propaganda nonsense....

Today Is North Texas Giving Day With Dorothy's Ruby Slippers On The Tandy Hills

A message from Dorothy and the Friends of the Tandy Hills...........

Dear Friends,

Today is the Day!

It’s North Texas Giving Day. Please choose Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area to be the recipient of your Environmental dollars on this special Giving Day.

From 6 a.m. until midnight, your donation of $25 or more will yield bonus funds and prizes which means that your tax deductible donation to Friends of Tandy Hills, TODAY ONLY, will go further.    

Need 32 good reasons to support us?
Go here: http://www.tandyhills.org/campaign

The direct link to donate to Friends of Tandy Hills is here:
www.northtexasgivingday.org/#npo/friends-of-tandy-hills-natural-area-inc

A Pre-Fall Barbecue Chicken Burger With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts

Fall falls upon us in a few days.

Today I needed to go to ALDI so I decided to roll my wheels with Arlington's Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area prior to ALDIizing.

In the picture my handlebars are looking at the formerly blue Village Creek Blue Bayou.

Currently the formerly blue Blue Bayou is looking like it has adopted fall colors, with green fading to brown.

Bike riding was extremely pleasant today. No wind, the air chilled to the mid 80s, no overheating.

The pool is back not being cool after its bout last week of being almost too cool for this time of year. I suspect the too cool pool will soon return and that I will acclimate to it.

In the meantime I'm having a barbecue chicken burger with cabbage salad. Fall food.....

The Economic And Fiscal Reality Of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

This morning Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to a 20 page document on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's website titled Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Corps of Engineers' Trinity River Vision Project in Tarrant County Texas.

More than once I have verbalized my wonderment regarding the fact that there does not seem to be any sort of project timeline for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's urgently needed flood control and economic development scheme.

Well.

Reading through the TRVB document there is a lot of jaw dropping information. But the main thing I gleaned was way back over a decade ago, when this document was produced, the Boondoggle had a project timeline which had construction projects starting in 2005, running through 2015, which is about three months from now.

The Boondoggle's document says the corps will spend about  $357 through 2015, generating more than $600 million in economic activity. Wow. That is one HUGE return on investment. I suspect though that the Boondoggle forgot to add the word "million" after $357.

In this Boondoggle document, near the end, we learn that way back over a decade ago, developers noticed what will  be happening on the Trinity River in Fort Worth, with one un-named business leader opining that this project can catapult Fort Worth into the upper echelon of American cities.

I wonder what that un-named business leader is thinking now?

A decade later.

With little to show after a decade of Boondoggling.

Well, there are those Three Bridges Over Nothing supposedly under construction, a drive-in movie theater, an imaginary island with an imaginary pavilion, inner tube floating music parties with beer and a brewery. Oh, and a wakeboard lake.

Below are three excerpts from the Boondoggle's document containing that which I referenced above.....

The preliminary cost schedule calls for the Corps of Engineers to spend $435 million to realign the Trinity River with ancillary construction projects starting in 2005 through 2015. This spending will pay for engineering, architectural, environmental and other studies as well as hard and soft costs of building bridges, realigning the bypass channel, building gates, walls, levees, and several other features as well as management, administrative, and other costs. Though the budget includes over $76 million for property acquisition, we have not included this spending in our impact estimates. We do not have sufficient information on property ownership to ascertain the degree to which any income gains from the sale of property would contribute to local economic activity. In addition, $1.5 million is budgeted to help existing businesses relocate. The impact of this spending will depend on the nature of the assistance provided; therefore, we do not include this comparatively modest spending in our impact assessment.

The Trinity River realignment project and related Trinity River Vision have already spurred redevelopment efforts in the City of Fort Worth, without turning one shovelful of dirt. Corps spending on the proposed project will be about $357 through the year 2015, not including payments for land acquisition and business relocation assistance. This spending will generate more than $600 million in economic activity in Tarrant County and support over 6,000 person-years of employment. However, as impressive as these impacts are, they pale in comparison to the private commercial and residential development that will likely follow the TRV project.

Business and city officials note that developers from outside Tarrant County and outside Texas have taken notice of what will be happening along the Trinity River in Fort Worth. As observed by one business leader, this is the project that can catapult Fort Worth into the upper echelon of American cities.

Today I Found A Fallen Hoodoo In The Tandy Hills Natural Sauna Steam Bath

There really are few things sadder than a fallen Hoodoo, shattered and scattered about, a ruin of its former vertical self.

Til today it had been over a week since I last did some fast hill hiking.

Though the temperature was in the relatively chilly mid 80s, compared to last week's over 100 record breaker, the humidity still managed to turn the Tandy Hills into a virtual sauna steam bath.

A very salubrious sauna steam bath.

Last week after I finished my Tandy Hills hill hiking I was told that a bobcat had been following me at the start of the hiking, unbeknownst to me.

Today when I neared the currently dry Tandy Falls I heard some creature crashing through the jungle.

Bobcats are stealthy, they don't draw attention to themselves by noisily crashing through the jungle. I stood still for a couple minutes hoping to see what was making the noise, but never did. And so I continued on.

Earlier today Elsie Hotpepper directed me to some good blogging fodder. Post hiking, back at my computer, I found more good blogging fodder. Blogging fodder of the scandal in Fort Worth sort.

I must ponder a bit before I blog about these scandalous subjects...

Spencer Jack Did Not Go Swimming In The Trinity River Yesterday

No. That is not an artist's rendering you are looking at of what it would look like if Spencer Jack, whilst visiting his favorite great uncle in Texas, jumped into Pond Granger, if it ever exists.

What you are looking at is Spencer Jack jumping into the crystal clear water of Lake Samish, yesterday, in an escape from an unexpected, rare, mid September heat wave in Western Washington.

Spencer Jack's dad emailed me several pictures of yesterday's heat escape. A few minutes after that I checked in on Facebook to see the same pictures there. So, I don't have myself a Spencer Jack exclusive.

Speaking of the phantom Pond Granger, that being the little lake that might come to be if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever becomes anything anyone can see, this morning I was conversing with an engineer. Not of the train driving type of engineer, this was a build things type of engineer I was conversing with.

The subject of the Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing came up. The subject of the claim that the four year bridge building project was taking place before the un-needed flood diversion channel was built, because the Boondoggle claims this will save money, was scoffed at by the engineer.

The engineer said a properly designed project would have the bridges and the channel being built at the same time. That no water would be in the channel til water is diverted into it. That integrating the building of the channel simultaneously with the building of the bridges would in reality be the most cost effective way to engineer such a project.

I opined that the non-propaganda fact of the matter is there is no money to build the un-needed flood diversion channel, which is why it is not currently being built at the same time as the un-needed Bridges Over Nothing.

Has anyone given any thought as to how ridiculous those Three Bridges Over Nothing are going to look?

If, in four years money is found to build the un-needed flood diversion channel, how many years will that take? Four years to build three simple bridges? What? 20 years to build a channel?

And no, in the second picture you are not looking at an artist's rendering of Spencer Jack standing in a clean, litter free, crystal clear Trinity River of the future.

What Spencer Jack is in the middle of is known as Friday Creek. Spencer Jack and his dad stopped at Friday Creek on their way to cool off in Lake Samish....